Teachers, board agree on 4.9 percent raise

The De Soto USD 232 Board of education Monday ratified a contract with the De Soto Teacher's Association, calling for an overall salary increase of 4.9 percent.

The contract includes a 4.5 percent increase in the base salary from $36,068 to $37,700. DTA president Nikki Leisten said raises on the salary schedule range from 4.8 percent to 6.2 percent and teachers who are off the salary schedule will continue to receive the dollar amount on the last step of his or her respective column.

Supplemental salaries also will increase by 5 percent, which will move the supplemental salaries to 80 percent of the Johnson County average, Leisten said.

"The negotiations team also worked very hard on the contract language this year," she said. "Many areas of the negotiated agreement were revised."

For example, additional language was added to the agreement to allow for additional tuition reimbursement programs funded by grants to be developed. This would allow the district teachers to take advantage of such programs in the future, Leisten said.

Changes also were made to the district's evaluation system to make it streamlined and enhanced, Leisten said.